1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to electronic program guides, and more particularly, to a method for providing an electronic program guide based on user preference data collected at different time intervals in a day.
2. Background Information
Due to the advent of cable television, direct satellite systems, and other television and radio broadcast systems, television viewers and radio listeners often have very large numbers of channels and programs from which to select. To assist in channel selection, current apparatuses often provide an on-screen menu known as an electronic program guide. An electronic program guide is an interactive, on-screen equivalent to program listings found in local newspapers or other print media. An electronic program guide can provide various different kinds of information about each program that is within the time interval covered by the electronic program guide. The time interval may, for example, range from the next hour up to fourteen days in advance. Electronic program guide information is often displayed in a two dimensional table or grid format with time on one axis and channel number on the other axis.
Unlike non-interactive guides that reside on a dedicated channel and merely scroll through the current programming on other channels, electronic program guides allow users to select a channel at any time within the guide's time range. Moreover, electronic program guide features include the ability to highlight individual cells of the grid containing program information. Once highlighted, the viewer can perform functions pertaining to that highlighted program. For instance, a user could instantly switch to that program if it is currently being aired, and/or select the program for recording.
Because electronic program guides provide users with such a large number of channels and programs from which to select, the process of navigating and selecting a desired channel from the guide can be overwhelming for users. Moreover, since digital compression can limit how quickly certain devices can change channels, simply surfing the electronic program guide for a desired channel is not necessarily an effective means of channel selection.
One approach for facilitating channel selection with an electronic program guide is to arrange channels in the guide based on revenues received by the broadcaster, with those channels generating the highest revenues being listed first. This approach, however, is more of a business model than a channel selection technique, and does not necessarily assist users in selecting their favorite channels and programs. Moreover, many users may dislike this approach since their favorite channels may appear very far down in the guide listing.
Another approach for facilitating channel selection with an electronic program guide is to provide a user profile feature in which users can set various parameters to block certain channels in the guide listing, and to save certain channels to a list of favorites. This approach, however, is problematic because these types of features are often not used by consumers since they may be considered too difficult, or too much trouble, to set up.
Heretofore, the problem of providing an electronic program guide that facilitates channel selection by users has not been adequately addressed. Accordingly, there is a need for a method and apparatus for providing an electronic program guide which better facilitates channel selection by users. The present invention addresses these and/or other issues.